Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team closed out the regular season on Saturday night with a 78-49 victory against Elmhurst (7-17/2-11) at home. With the win Wheaton improves to 18-7 overall and 9-5 in the CCIW and the Thunder secure a spot in next weekend's CCIW Men's Basketball Tournament at either Augustana or North Central.
Wheaton led by as many as 12 points in the first half, however, the Bluejays rallied to trim the Thunder advantage to 28-23 at halftime. Wheaton out-scored Elmhurst 14-5 in the first four minutes of the second half to extend the hosts' lead to 42-28 with 16:00 left in regulation. The Thunder maintained a double-digit lead for the rest of the contest and led by as many as 31 points in the second half.
Junior All-American Tim McCrary scored 1 game-high 22 points, on 10-of-15 shooting from the field. He collected six rebounds and distributed five assists. In his final career regular season game home, senior captain Andrew Jahns scored 19 points, with a career-high eight assists. Jeremy Pflederer scored eight points, while Nathan Haynes and Nate Serenius each scored seven points.
A Jahns free throw in with 16:07 remaining in the game was the 1,000th career point of his stellar career – making him the 42nd player in school history to reach the milestone. He now has 1,006 points in his four seasons with the Thunder.
Zack Boyd led Elmhurst with 11 points and Justin Phipps contributed 10 points with eight rebounds off of the Bluejays' bench.
Wheaton shot a sensational 67.9% (19-28) from the field in the second half, as the Thunder recorded a 54.5% (30-55) field goal percentage for the game. The hosts shot 36.4% (4-11) from three-point range and 77.8% (14-18) at the free throw line. Elmhurst shot a 31.5% (17-54) field goal percentage, with 25% (2-8) from three-point range and 76.5% (13-17) at the charity stripe. Elmhurst held a 33-32 rebounding advantage with a 14-8 edge on the offensive glass. Wheaton committed just six turnovers, while Elmhurst had 16 as the Thunder owned a 23-4 advantage in points off of turnovers.